Furo's Fury
by SpectralWendigo
Summary: After over 600 years of senseless bloodshed, Furorem wanted to settle down with his girlfriend to live a quiet life. But when an incident involving a stray and a band of unfamiliar devils, he is forced to bring out a side of him he had hoped to keep hidden.
1. The day it turned to shit

**Highschool DxD Fanfiction/ Chapter 1**

 **Furorem POV.**

I remember all too well. The blood, plastered to the walls, the metallic scent in the air. With the year being 1393 AD, in such a war ridden time, the crimson sight should have been familiar to me. But something about it being my own parents seemed to weigh more heavily than most other peoples…

"Hey Furo!" A voice snapped me back to 2016. My name is Furorem. Furo for short, I have chocolate brown hair, crimson red eyes, I'm about 6.1 feet tall and I'm a devil, but not the normal kind.

"Huh?" I said temporarily forgetting my surroundings.

"You dozed off again. I thought you'd slipped into a coma or something." The girl joked.

"Aww. Were you worried about me?"

She snorted, "Yeah, I was worried that I'd have to finish packing by myself. Now move your butt, your sat on my clothes box." This was Sarah, my girlfriend. We were currently packing her stuff up to move in together. Since they were both 17 now, that was allowed. Of course, she didn't know that I was a devil, or that I haven't been 17 for the past 623 years. In the eyes of a mortal's ignorance though, I was a normal looking teen. This was new for me. Falling in love was one of the many things I swore never to do again since I became a devil. I seriously hoped that the sudden change of pace in life would loosen immortality's grip on me, and after living with such evil, tainted blood pumping through me, all I wanted was to die a natural death with Sarah.

When walking out of the door, we passed Sarah's lazy step-father. "Good riddance to bad rubbish I say." He says under his breath, not taking his eyes off the screen of the small TV. I stop in my tracks. Sarah turns around to face me and says, "He's not worth it Furo, don't bother wasting your energy on such a pig."

For a moment, my face is expressionless, eventually, I smile at her, "Don't worry, I was just thinking of saying my goodbyes to your mother, I never did get a chance to before." She smiles at this, knowing how much her mum liked me.

"OK then. I'll be putting this last box in the back of the van." She said with a sweet smile. As soon as she walked out, my face turned into one of absolute hatred. I stormed over to Sarah's step-father and punched him, straight into the bottom left side of his jaw. He flew off the side of his couch and screeched in pain while curled into a ball, holding the bottom half of his greasy mouth. "OWW!" he moaned through his hands, "what the fuck kid?! How the hell are you so strong?" I walked over to his flailing body and picked him up by his collar. "You… don't… get to talk to Sarah like that." I say through clenched teeth, ignoring his question. I throw him back down and walk out of the front door. I put a smile back on and we set off driving to our new home. We have mindless, back and forth conversations on the way there, until she says, "Thank you."

I look at her, confused, "For what?"

"For dealing with my step-father like that, you have no idea how long I've wanted to do that to him." she says with a delightful sigh at the end. I start to feel guilty, knowing that she knew I was lying to her the whole time, "I'm sorry that I lied to you like that, I just can't stand that guy." And it was true, but I need to control my temper more. I tell myself. Even if he was an arsehole, using my powers to boost my strength and inflict more pain isn't fair to a mortal.

We were just about to round the corner to our new street, I could see Sarah's excitement because she was leaning forward in her seat. Suddenly, the air changed and I felt the presence of another devil two miles or so down the road… no, it was one mile, or rather, it was on the same street! I stop the moving truck and look in the direction of the fast moving devil, but what I saw instead was a giant, centaur looking man barrelling towards them. Oh no. I think to myself. It must be a stray. A devil who has murdered their master and gone rogue. Then, there was another devil, moving even faster than the stray. All of a sudden, the stray devil had a huge gash going from his right shoulder all the way to his left hip. He stumbles and falls, and I catch a glimpse of the second devil as a young kid, probably about 16 years old with blonde hair and a sleek, black sword. A girl appears then, wearing what looks like an old fashioned priest outfit, and fires two quick bolts of lightning at the downed monster. But no matter how much the duo damaged him, the stray refused to tear his eyes off of the truck. Without warning, he roars and spits a ball of lava at me and Sarah, who I noticed isn't moving due to being paralysed by fear. I quickly push her out of the truck and cover her as the vehicle exploded behind me. I checked her over, to make sure she was okay. She didn't look harmed, just a couple of bruises. "Thanks" she says, seemingly out of breath, then her eyes zero in on something on my forearm and widen. "Furo… your arm!" she says in alarm. I look at where she was pointing, and sure enough, there was a large blob of molten metal starting to harden. I tear it off, leaving a gaping hole in my sleeve. Suddenly, I sense another two devils, coming at me and Sarah from either side. "Listen closely Sarah." I say getting her attention while standing back up. "I want you to run to those office buildings and hide… okay?"

"What about you?" she asks, worried.

"Don't worry about me. I won't be of any help hidden away. Just trust me not to die, okay?"

She waits a couple of seconds, deciding whether or not they had time to argue about it. "But, what are you going to do? You can't fight one of those things!" For reasons I don't think I'll ever be able to explain, I told her. I told her everything I could have in the short amount of time we had. She covered her mouth and I could see tears welling in her eyes. I immediately felt bad and hung my head in shame. How could I have kept something like this from her? It was probably my power which attracted them here in the first place. I then felt her hand cup and lift my cheeks. She gave me a deep kiss and said, "Promise me you won't die."

"I promise. I love you, Sarah."

"I love you too, Furo." She gave me one last kiss and ran for the buildings.

I turn to face the direction of the other two strays, just in time to see them turn the corners. They both glare at me until Big Ugly No.1 starts charging at me. I break into a sprint towards the monster, tapping into my powers along the way. I start to feel the rage coursing through my body, I suddenly go even faster, more determined not to let anything happen to Sarah. Big Ugly No.1 swings for me and I dodge by just an inch, this then allowed me to vault off of his knee and elbow the stray straight into the chin, where I heard a satisfying "CRUNCH!" to which the stray stumbled back in agony. I didn't stop there though; I quickly ran up his arm that was stuck in the concrete from his early attempt of crushing me and dealt a deadly flurry of strikes to his face, my rage powers making me hit him so hard and so fast that after 10 seconds of senseless beating, the front of his once toughened face was now nothing but blood and mismatched skin. He collapsed to the floor and I looked at his friend, who seemed to be in a state of shock. Big Ugly No.2 then did the smart thing, he turned and ran.

 **Rias' POV.**

Having joined the battle late, along with: Asia, Koneko, and Issei. It came as quite a shock to see that while her Queen and her Knight were beating down one stray, there was an unfamiliar devil down the street fighting two. I watched as he finished with the first one and had a small staring contest with the other, before it ran away with its tail between its legs. The stranger wasn't finished however, he ran, easily outpacing the stray and jumped on its back. Nobody could have guessed what happened next, he sprinted across its back, jumped off its shoulders and tore its head clean off. We all watched in sheer amazement of this man, who wasn't much older than us, take down two strays in a shorter amount of time than it took two of my best fighters to kill just one.

While we watched him just stand there for a while, head now discarded, we saw him jerk his head up quickly, and then look towards the side street to his right, just as another stray barrelled straight into him and sent him flying into the wall of a building. We then all heard a scream and saw a girl run out of the same building to check on the stranger. Without realising, my team and I were already running to help the man as well, but when we were at least 20 meters away from him, we were suddenly surrounded by another 7 strays out for blood. I did a quick headcount.

"Hey guys? I count 10 strays that we've seen so far, including the dead ones." I inform.

"10 strays? I thought one was bad enough. How come they've teamed up?" Issei says.

"It could have something to do with that devil over there."

"Yes, there is something different about him." Akeno summed up.

"Hey President, what are your orders?" Kiba asked.

I thought for a moment. "Make a path to the new guy, when we're there I want Asia to heal him. There is no way we can survive without him at full strength."

"You got it Lady Rias." Asia said, ready to do her part.

Before I could give the order to charge, we all heard a shriek and a painful sound of cracking bones. We all viewed in horror, the mangled corpse of the girl that had previously rushed out of the building fall to the ground from the giant hand of a stray.

"NO! SARAH!" We heard the man yell, as he fell back to his arms and knees as he cried. As he did so, we could see a tinge of red light glowing around his body.

The street was bathed in silence. Nothing could be heard but the sounds of the unknown devil's cries. After a while, the crying died down. But the sounds themselves were enough to put the team in a depressed mood. Once he'd finished entirely, there was a minute of complete silence, where not even the strays wanted to make a noise, in fear of what they had just done.

The next noise is what shocked everyone though.

"HaHaHa… *Sigh…"


	2. The rage returns

**Highschool DxD Fanfiction/ Chapter 2**

 **Rias' POV.**

"HaHaHa… *Sigh…" The chuckling continued for a small amount of time, but nobody knew where it was coming from.

"Why are you laughing?" One of the strays says in a scared tone. Apparently, he had found the culprit for the laughing, and it seemed that it was stemming from the devil on the floor.

"So… you can speak." The unknown devil confirmed.

"You still haven't answered my question." The stray notes. The team and I just stand there, confusion growing and eventually sprouting into interest.

"I'm laughing… *chuckle… at how bad you just fucked up!" With this, he lifted his head and we saw just what his once handsome face had become: his fiery red eyes were now blazing, tears were dried to his face, his hair was a mess and he had a crazy smile so horrifying, it could ever give my big brother Lucifer nightmares.

"You idiots don't even know who you're dealing with. Do you?" After he says this, he looks at Kiba, who turns ghostly pale, afraid he had done something wrong. "I noticed that you're fighting these abominations as well, so I'll allow you and your friends to stay out of my way while I kill these things."

"You're going to kill us?" A stray asked.

"Slowly." More maniacal laughter erupted from his lips.

"Slowly?" The stray whimpered quietly.

"You fool! There is 7 of us and only 1 of him!" What seemed to be the leader said in anger. "If you're afraid of 1 devil, then what the hell are you doing here for in the first place?" This seemed to shake the pack of strays out of their stake of fear. Even the once whimpering stray was looking ready for a fight.

He started laughing again. Even I, Rias Gremory, was getting anxious. "You idiots have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?" He repeated. At this he started to stand up on weak legs. How could I have forgotten?! He's still injured!

"We have to help him. There is no way he can fight them all by himself!" I say.

"NO!" He demands. "I will tear these things to pieces… while they're still alive." Apparently, this was enough to get his smile back and start up laughing again.

"I am Furorem Marius. Elemental devil of rage. Son of the warlord Gaius Marius. I have lived for over 600 years. Do you really think that you can defeat me?" Suddenly, two wicked looking pistols appeared in his hands. They looked blood red, and then I realised that there were also two blades strapped to his back in a cross, just as red as the guns, only, they had black hilts.

"This isn't good guys." I informed my teammates.

"How so?" Koneko asks.

"That guy is infamously known by all of the religious leaders. His powers are only limited to the collective anger of all living things."

"Meaning he basically has an infinite amount of power at his disposal." Kiba said.

"Exactly. What's more, his father was the leader of a great Roman army, until Furorem here killed his entire family and became a devil."

"Hard-core." Koneko says in amazement.

"He was always shunned by the devil community. So he became a wanderer, never having a master, and never starting his own group of devil servants. He picked fights with angels and fallen angels whenever he could, and although he was alone, he never lost." I admit, I was starting to feel respect for the psychopath standing before them. "After a while though, he just disappeared. Out of fear for what Furorem could be doing, the leaders of the Underworld, Heaven and the fallen angels had a temporary truce to find and destroy him. But all of the search parties mysteriously went missing…"

 **Furorem POV.**

Sarah. Her face was the only thing I could see. After seeing her lifeless body, I had managed to work myself into a psychotic rage. I could hear the red head talking about me nearby. Usually, I wouldn't tolerate this, and would have taught them a lesson. But right now, I simply didn't care enough to bother. I banished the image of Sarah from my head so I could focus on the stray devils waiting for me. Without realising it, I had managed to summon my duel-wielding pistols. Part of my weapons of choice. Their red-tinted metal shone in the sunlight and reminded me of the times I would use them on a regular basis. I also noticed that there was something weighing my back down. Two wickedly sharp short-swords. Blades also tinted red. But the hilt was pitch black, these were the other part of my weapons of choice.

"I hope your ready… HAHAHA!" The voice was mine, but I didn't want to say it. I was then sprinting, faster than any Olympic gold medallist, with a smile of glee on my face that wasn't my own. But then I remembered what they had done to Sarah. And that got me even angrier. I laugh again while running, and this time, it was my laugh. I didn't care anymore, I just let my own rage consume me. I felt at ease again, a feeling I haven't felt in centuries.

While running, I point one of my guns at the nearest stray, picking out my target, and pulled the trigger. The bullet met with its destination. The middle of the stray's neck, causing its head to topple to the ground with a thud. The gun shoots a bullet at the same level of power as my own powers, and considering I'm in a psychotic rage. That must have been pretty damn painful.

When I reach the feet of the strays, I switch to closer combat and pull the swords off my back instead. Guns now in their holsters, which were strapped to each of my legs, I start running up the chest of another stray, but while running horizontally, I impale my blades into the bottom of the stray's stomach and drag them all the way to the top of his shoulders, letting out a squeal of pain and falling to the ground in three separate pieces. The five strays that were still alive overcame their shock and joined the fight.

The first one tried to crush me under the palm of its hand, but missed. I then vaulted off of his hand and flew up into the air, far above the heads of the strays. The purpose of this was to assess the battlefield from a bird's eye view. I could see the group of unfamiliar devils (who I specifically remember telling to stay out of my way) charging into battle. I sheathed my left hand sword and pulled out one of my pistols, and quickly let off 6 shots. The band of devils stopped in their tracks, having a bullet hole at each of their feet.

"Stay out of my way!" I scream at them, still mid-air. I then let myself fall, along the way back to the ground, I decapitate one of them and fire two shots into each shoulder of another, who then fell to the ground, not dead, but he'll be out of the fight for a while. A stray then tried to grab me, but one swift backhand with my sword was all it took to send his hand flying to the ground, I then followed up with a single bullet between his eyes. That left two strays unharmed, but then they both had a hole going through their chest in less than a second.

I tried to calm myself down for a second, now that the fight was over. Once my blood went back to a steady pace, I walked over to the stray that had a bullet hole in each shoulder and broke his nose with a hit from the butt of my gun. The devils I told to stay out of the way were now by my side. The red head walked up to the stray and said, "You have committed the worst crime imaginable in the eyes of a devil. Murdering your master to kill other devils, you'll be imprisoned for the rest of your miserable life." She never got the chance to send him to the underworld due to the barrel of my pistol resting on the back of her head.

 **Issei's POV.**

None of us dared to move in fear of what he would do to Rias.

"Leave it." The devil known as Furorem ordered in a small voice. Rias slowly backed away from the struggling stray. When Furorem was sure we weren't going to get in the way, he turned back to the stray. "Who sent you?" he asked.

"I don't know what you're-" his sentence was cut short by the sound of a bullet smashing through his kneecap.

"Don't play dumb," he says calm and collectively, "as you can see from your friends here, I'm not afraid of putting you down. So I'll ask again. Who sent you?"

"…" Silence.

Furorem sighed, and stabbed the stray in the heart, ending his pain. After cleaning his blade, he turned to face us. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Although he wasn't pointing any weapons at us, I felt like we were being interrogated, probably because he was using the same tone of voice as he did with the stray. Nobody said anything, so I decided to start, "My name is Issei, and this is: Akeno, Koneko, Kiba, Asia and-"

"Charlotte!" Rias suddenly said. We all looked at her in confusion. For whatever reason, she looked scared. She was trembling lightly and her skin was paler than usual.

"… Right, Charlotte." I say playing along. For whatever reason, Rias didn't want this guy knowing her real name. "Anyway, we were assigned to stop that stray devil that Akeno and Kiba just killed. We had no idea about the others that would show up."

He inspected us all closely. Until Asia spoke up. "Excuse me, Mr Furorem?" He looked at her, eyebrow raised. "Yes?"

"If you don't mind me asking. What type of devil are you?" He seemed to stagger at that question.

"What, did Big Red here not tell you?" He asked, trying to recompose himself.

"Erm…" Asia was stuck for words, not wanting to tell him what Rias had been saying, but not wanting to lie either. "Not really."

"Well, it seems that your friend, Rias…" he said pointedly, "needs to do her studying. And learn how to lie." Rias took a shaky breath at that. I think Furorem noticed how scared she was, because he put on a small smile and said, "Don't worry Ms Gremory, my grudges were all forgotten about long ago. You needn't be worried about you or your family." I don't know how, but Rias seemed more at ease with that. "And as for your question Asia, I am known as an Elemental devil. A devil that rules over an aspect of life. For me, that would be anger. If there is a person that is experiencing extreme anger in the world, I'll know about it."

"Why not join us?" The question was out of the blue, and I don't know why I asked it, but with how he spoke to Rias and Asia, patient and calm. He didn't seem like such a bad guy.

"What?" Both Rias and Furorem asked in unison.

"Well I suppose I have a few spare pieces to accept you." Rias considered.

"It would be totally rad to have someone as strong as me to spar with." Koneko said in her usual tone.

"And I just bet he's into the rough stuff." Akeno says with a slight blush.

"No!" Everyone stares at Furorem like he was from a distant planet. Turning down an offer from Rias Gremory was unheard of before. "What makes you think that I want to join you?"

"Because… Its Rias Gremory." Kiba mentions like it was obvious.

"Yes, I know that. But why would I want to blindly follow someone who just wants me at their beck and call?"

"Rias isn't like that." I state.

He looks at me. "Are you really that naïve? I can tell you were never given a choice as to whether you wanted to become a devil or not, Issei. You are literally called a servant, and you think that you can be anything more?"

"We're not 'just servants' at all. Rias helps us when we need it, same way we help Rias when she needs it." Koneko snapped.

"If you need my help, then you call me, but I don't need to pledge my life to someone to do that… now if your done trying to convince me." He looked over towards the body he once called Sarah. "I have something to do." He said in a low voice and started walking in that direction.

"Are you going to just let him go?" I ask Rias. She turns to me, baffled by what had just occurred. "I'll speak with him alone. I get the feeling that, that mortal was someone special to him, you all go home. I'll be there soon."

 **Rias' POV.**

Once they had all left. I went to Furorem to speak in private. When I got there, he was folding her body into one that showed respect and peace. Hands folded over her chest and eyelids shut. "Furorem-"

"Call me Furo."

"Okay, Furo. I know my servants seemed to be a little bit pushy back there, but I think, that's because they saw what I saw."

"And what would that be?" Furo asked.

"Someone who is secretly gentle, but doesn't want to show it." I say kindly.

"And how exactly did you come up with that conclusion?" He asks. I can tell he's trying to humour me, so I just go along with it.

"The way you act and speak. How you managed to go from a psychotic rage to talking to Asia so nice, and forgiving my family name for wanting you dead so quickly."

"Don't be fooled, it took me a century to forgive all three factions, I was so furious that I actually considered waging war against you all, one at a time."

"Haha," the idea made me laugh, "I have no doubt you would have won either. But it's who you are now that counts. Not what you've done in the past." I say in an attempt to comfort him. He looks at me, like he was taking into account what I had just said rather than just shrug it off. "Would you like for her to be buried in my back garden? The Gremory land is large enough for it."

"She's not some pet goldfish, you know!" He snapped.

I smile, "No, I know that. The Gremory Estate garden is actually a graveyard. Reserved for only the most important people."

He looked at her cautiously, "Why would you do something like that?"

"You did save our lives after all. I know that wasn't your intention at the time, but still, we wouldn't be having this conversation if you hadn't."

He thought about it for a minute, until eventually, he nodded. "Okay. Take us there."


	3. Revelations

**Highschool DxD Fanfiction/ Chapter 3**

 **('') = Character's thoughts**

 **("BOLD TEXT") = Draig speaking**

 **("") = Character speaking (duh)**

 **Furo's POV.**

The shuffling of the Gremory's family servants were the only things that were able to be heard during the burial. Rias stood quietly a couple feet behind me, not wanting to interrupt my grieving. 'This shouldn't have happened' I think to myself, 'It's not fair that Sarah had to die instead of me, she had more to lose than me: a family, friends and the ability to grow old and lead a happy life'.

My ears twitched and burned as I could sense that someone didn't find me welcome here. But I didn't care. I continued to stand there, not bothering to confront them.

"She must have been a really important person to you." Rias stated, comfortingly.

"She was. She was one of the biggest things that kept me from going back to my previous evils." I said as we went back to respectful silence.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"You know, it's a shame." I say, as the burning sensation on my ears were getting worse.

"I know, it's never easy losing someone close to you."

"That's not what I'm talking about." I say calmly. She responds with a sideways look of confusion.

"Then what do you mean?"

"The fact that your father is here." I said before a powerful red beam of devil magic was shot at me. I turn around to face the energy beam with a slightly annoyed look, and just when it was inches from hitting me, I put up a magical barrier and stopped it dead in its track.

"You're just as powerful as I remember Mister Marius!" Rias' father yelled from the back porch, his hand smoking from when he tried to shoot me. He had his peerage with him, an arsenal of high class devils that were no doubt powerful.

"Father?! What do you think you are doing?" Rias said in surprise.

"After everything you've done, you think that you can disappear for a five centuries and then turn up at my own home?" He said, seemingly ignoring his daughter.

"Father! Please calm down!" Rias begged.

"He's doing this because he's scared, Rias. Sir Gremory! I don't wish to fight you, but I will if I have to."

"What makes you so sure I'm scared of you!?" He said, outraged. Then, he made a look as if he realised something else. He placed his index finger and his thumb on the bridge of his nose. "Why is it that you can never remember my name, Furorem? During the battles that took place, you seemed to remember Azazel's and Michael's names just fine." He asked pathetically.

"Because I only remember the names of those who pose a threat to me." I say in a cocky tone with a rare, but slight, smirk. Sir Gremory's peerage looked pissed, like they hated to see their master being insulted that easily.

"You bastard!" One screamed before all of them started firing at me, apart from the king himself. I just stood there, letting my barriers absorb all of the damage.

Once the barrage was over, they all noticed that I wasn't hurt, and that my hands were in my pockets.

"What the hell?" The same devil said in confusion. "That kid didn't even lift a finger and he's not even hurt!"

"Try not to provoke him Cal." Sir Gremory said with a sigh.

"Screw that! I'm not going to let him talk to my king like that!" The devil named Cal then summoned his wings and charged at me, followed by the rest of the peerage.

*30 seconds later

"Uuurrgh…" Cal groaned in pain as he and his friends all lay on the ground, unconscious.

"Hhhmmmm… What happened to you Furorem?" Sir Gremory asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the old Furorem I knew would have slaughtered them without a second thought, in half the time too."

"I'm not that person anymore Sir Gremory."

"Zeoticus," he said impatiently, "my name is Zeoticus, and this is the final time I'll tell you that."

"Fine then Zeoticus, you still haven't told me why you're here."

He looked pissed, "How dare you ask me that! This is my own home!"

"You're also interrupting something very important to me!" I countered.

We had a silent staring contest, neither of us backing down. Rias was stood off to the side, still shocked at how quickly I managed to finish off her father's peerage.

She shook her head and said, "Stop it, both of you! Father, Furo here was just burying his mortal girlfriend. She got caught in the crossfire of our battle with a stray devil. It just so happened that Furorem was there at the same time."

Zeoticus looked sceptical, like he still couldn't trust me. "And you thought it would be a good idea to bring him to our home? Rias, have you lost your mind?"

"It was the least I could do father, he saved all of our lives." She said softly.

"Ha! I'm sure you and your peerage could've handled a single stray devil Rias."

"It wasn't just a single stray devil, Father. They ambushed us, I counted ten centaur class stray devils at the end of the fight."

"… Were there any survivors?"

"No, Father."

He looked impressed. Zeoticus then turned to them both. "Furorem, it seems that you have my daughter's gratitude, and for saving her, (and the fact that I wouldn't have been able to stop you either way) I will allow you to leave."

"You have my thanks, Zeoticus."

"Although, I will have to talk to you before you leave. Rias, you should return to your friends, they'll be wondering where you are."

And with that, I walked towards the house with Zeoticus, and Rias teleported away. Before I entered, I took one last look at the freshly done grave, and headed inside.

 **Rias' POV.**

As I appeared back in the ORC building, I was greeted with the rest of my peerage. They all had worried expressions on their faces as they rushed to me.

"Rias! What happened?" Issei said, looking on my arms for any signs of harm done.

When I explained everything that had occurred in the underworld to them. They just stood there, in silence.

"He managed to defeat your father's peerage?" Kiba asked, astonished.

"In half a minute as well." I added.

"That guy is mental." Koneko deadpanned.

"He's definitely a piece of work." I said, scratching the back of my head.

*The next day

 **Issei's POV.**

'What was with that guy yesterday? First, he saves us from, like, a bajillion stray devils, and then he decides to shoot at us, and point a gun to the back of Rias' head!' Currently, I was slouched on my desk at school, thinking about yesterday's interactions with Furorem.

"Class, today we have a new student." The homeroom teacher said in the background of my thinking.

'I mean; who does he think he is?'

"Alright, you can come in now."

'He can't just threaten to shoot the heiress of the Gremory family and expect it to be okay.'

"Hello everybody, my name is Furorem Marius, but you can call me Furo. I hope to get along with you all."

'At least he's gone, who knows what would have happened if he stayed.'

"Psst! Issei!" Asia said, trying to get my attention.

I look up to see a frightened look on her face. She subtly pointed to the front of the classroom. There was a new guy writing his name on the board. When he turned around, he had a slight smile at the corner of his mouth.

Without realising, I gasped, recognising who it was. 'Just my luck! I thought it was over and now he's back.' I wasn't like I disliked the guy, after all he did save our lives. But I just can't stop thinking about what he said to me about being a servant. Furo looked at me and gave me a nod of recognition.

"Oh, it looks like you already know Issei. Why don't you go sit next to him?"

Without a word being said, he walked over and sat down next to me. I also noticed that all of the girls were all staring at him with wide eyes as he walked by. Looks like they've got another Prince of Kuoh, and in their very own classroom as well.

After the first few lessons were over, break had just started. I looked over at Furo to find him with one foot propped up on his desk while playing on his phone. Me and Asia exchanged looks, since we didn't know what to do. Eventually, Asia walked up to his desk and said in a sweet tone, "Hello Mr Furorem, we never did get to thank you for yesterday. You're pretty brave to stand up to that many on your own."

He just looked up and gave a winning smile to Asia, showing off his pearly white teeth, "Don't worry about it. Although I hope I didn't scare you."

"Well you definitely had me crapping myself." I chuckled while joining in the conversation.

He gave me a cheeky smile and left it at that.

"So how come you came here?" I asked.

"Well I'll be staying in the area for a couple of weeks, and I thought I might as well go to school while I'm here. It just so happened that I met you both-"

""YOU BASTARD!"" Two voices that I knew all too well shrieked at him.

Two fists then came into contact with the back of Furorem's head, however, the crack that was heard afterwards came from wrists of the culprits.

"OW! What the hell?"

"Matsuda, Motohama, what are you doing?" I ask despairingly.

"Issei! What are you doing hanging out with the enemy?"

"Enemy?" Furo asked.

"Yeah, you pretty boys are the only things getting in the way from people like us getting laid!" Matsuda said with tears in his eyes.

"What do you mean by 'pretty boy'?"

"Oh don't act all innocent. The girls haven't stopped staring at you ever since you walked into the classroom!" He pointed at the corner of the room, where a group of girls were all murmuring and staring at Furo. He gave them a wave and they all became beetroot red and looked away, shuffling around.

"See, this is why we can't get laid. Because people like you and Kiba are constantly getting in the way!" Motohama said.

"… Right. I'm the only thing stopping you from getting attention from the girls in this class." Furo deadpanned.

"Well, at least you can tell when you've done something wrong. God knows we never got any kind of apology from Kiba." Matsuda said while walking away with his friend.

"Please tell me those aren't friends of yours Issei." Furo said.

"Yeah, well about that, their kind of my best friends." I say while scratching the back of my head.

"…" Furo looked at me with a dead look, "… Oh God."

"Oh hey, does Rias know you're here yet?" Asia said.

"No, not yet. I didn't want to before the school day started."

"Well, why don't we go see her and Akeno, they're in the same class so it would be quite convenient." I say.

 **Furo's POV.**

*Outside 3rd year's classroom.

"Hey! Hyoudou!" All three of us turn around to see a lumbering oaf of a man outside the classroom door. "If you're here to see Rias again, don't bother. She'll never be interested in a lowlife like you." He says, gaining a chuckle from his friends.

"Is that why she talks to me frequently, and has never even looked at you?" Issei shot back.

You could see that Issei had struck a nerve. "Shut up! If you think that you can come here and steal all of the action, then you're sorely mistaken." The student said, getting mad.

"If it's action that you're after, then there's always the girls on the street corners. Although you may need to go there at midnight. Preferably with a large wad of cash and a couple rubbers." Issei said. At first the student looked confused, making himself look like a complete idiot. When he eventually connected the dots though, he didn't look happy.

"Hey arsehole! What are you trying to say? That the best I can do is a prostitute?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Issei simply put.

In a flash, the student's fist was in Issei's face, causing him to fall to the ground with a slight bang.

While Issei's nose was bleeding, Asia went to help him up. The student then started walking towards Issei, probably to cause more damage.

I stepped in front of the giant.

"You're not taking another step." I said in an ice-cold tone.

"Oh yeah? And what you gonna do?"

…

 **Rias' POV.**

Me and Akeno was talking about the events that had occurred yesterday, even though we kept getting interrupted by an argument outside the classroom. God, I wish they would just come to an agreement already. People were starting to look at the door as they realised something was going on.

Everything went quiet for a couple minutes. 'I hope they managed to resolve it peacefully. The last thing I need today is to think about idiot teenagers fighting.'

Suddenly, we heard a thwack on the other side of the door and in a quarter of a second, a rather large student flew through it, snapping the door in two as he fell to the floor.

While everyone was recovering from what happened, I saw a figure walking slowly through the doorway. 'Oh shit.' I thought to myself. I recognised the figure as Furorem, who just looked at the student with a blank expression.

"You know, for a guy that talks as big as you. You went down pretty easily." Furo said, almost sounding disappointed. Then, Asia and Issei walked through the door. The first thing I noticed was the fact that Issei was leaning on Asia for support and holding his nose, which looked like it was bruising already.

"You! You're going to die faggot!" The student on the floor shrieked in anger.

"Wow. You're really pissed aren't you?" Which just made the student look even more murderous.

The guy threw a punch at Furo, who just caught the fist in the palm of his hand, not even stumbling. He then twisted his hand so that he grabbed hold of his wrist instead and pulled it behind him, making the student fly toward Furo quite fast. Furo simply head-butted him in the nose and he crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

*A couple minutes later

"Well, everything's been cleaned up. You can carry on with your break now kids." Our homeroom teacher informed.

Me, Akeno, Asia, Issei and Furo were stood around my desk.

"Why did you do that?!" I ask Furo.

"… Do what?" He asked looking confused.

"You can't use your powers on a mortal! It's not fair!" I said in hushed tones.

"Powers?" He snorted. "I wasn't using any of my powers then. That guy fell over like a sack of bricks, even from my normal strength." Me and Akeno just looked at each other, stunned.

"So, you're telling me that when you're using your normal strength, you can punch people through wooden doors?"

"Well… Yeah, I guess so." He said like he'd never really thought about it.

I looked over at Issei, who was still holding his nose. "I don't even want to know what happened to you." He just gave me an amused smile and didn't say anything.

"So what are you here for Furo?" Akeno was the first to ask.

"Yeah, we never did get to hear that part." Issei added.

He shot Issei a look. "That's my business. All you guys need to know is that I'll be staying for a while."

"… Alright then. You're welcome to use the spare rooms in the ORC building if you need a place to stay."

"Thanks Rias, I think I will."

 **Furo's POV.**

'Hmmm… Looks like nobody has used it in a while' The room was beige with a double bed in the middle and a set of drawer's in corner. The window overlooked the tennis courts and had blacked out curtains for when I needed privacy. There was also a 20-inch flat screen hanging on the wall at the end of the bed. 'How does the Occult Research Club pay for all of this stuff?' I ask myself. I look outside the window again and see a couple of orange-gold feathers in the tree, as if it had been here a lot.

I walk downstairs to find everyone packing and getting ready to go out. Kiba was sheathing his black sword, Koneko was putting her combat gloves on and Issei was fiddling with his left hand in the corner. Asia, Rias and Akeno weren't preparing anything however. I guess when you rely on magic based attacks, you have trouble finding things that you need to bring with you.

"Hey, where you guys going?" I ask.

"We got another contract from Grafia to kill a den of stray devils." Kiba explained.

"Grafia? That's Sirzechs' queen, right? You need any help?"

"That's not up to me, you'll have to ask Rias about that." I nodded and walked over to where Rias and Akeno was talking. They were looking at a map of something, occasionally pointing at it.

Rias looked up and saw me approaching. "Ah, Furo, perfect timing. We need your help with something." She said.

"What's up?"

"You used to be the general of your dad's army, right?"

"… Yeah, I was." I said in a low manner, not wanting to remember those days. Rias didn't seem to notice this and kept on talking.

"Good. I was wondering if you could give us some tactical advice here." She pointed at the map. "This is the lair of a den of strays me and my peerage will be hunting. Grafia wants us to destroy them before they get the chance to get stronger." She explained.

"I'll see what I can do." I said before looking at the map. It looked to be some old, abandoned museum with only one entrance, perfect for an ambush. I looked at some of the pictures that were probably taken by a scouting party, and spotted an old wall that seemed on the verge of crumbling and a skylight for a ceiling.

"There. That's our entrance." I said, alerting Rias and Akeno. They both gave me confused looks.

"What do you mean Furo?" Akeno asked.

"Everyone! Gather round!" Addressing everyone in the room. Once they were all here, I told them my plan.

"Here." I say, pointing at the picture of the wall. "They will be able to sense you the second you walk up to the front door, giving them enough time to plan an ambush at the entrance. Unfortunately, it's the only entrance into the place. Any fire exits have been sealed tight. This means that we'll have to split into three teams. Team one will be-"

"Wait, wait, wait. If you're coming with us, then why don't we just send you in to knock some heads together? Seems quicker than making a massive plan." Issei interrupted.

"Because, if you rely on me like that all the time, then you'll never get any stronger." I say, giving Issei a sharp look for interrupting me. "May I continue?" To which Issei gave a slight nod to.

"Ok. The first team will be: Rias, Kiba and Akeno. Second team will be Issei and Koneko. And the third team will be me and Asia. Everyone ok with that?" They all nodded. "Ok, first team will be taking the front entrance, second team will be knocking down that crumbling wall at the back of the building. And me and Asia will be on support in case anything happens. We'll be across the street on the rooftops keeping a lookout."

"You plan to turn their ambush against them. That's impressive." Akeno said, genuinely looking impressed. "Only one thing, the enemy will know what's happening when they hear the wall coming down."

"Not if we make a distraction. If you can send a thunderbolt into that skylight, there," I say pointing at the picture of the skylight. "Then it will create a kind of flashbang, making it so that they cannot hear the wall falling. Once all of this is done, the first two teams will be in perfect flanking positions, and quickly eradicate any enemies. If anyone is wounded or if any reinforcements show up, then me and Asia will jump in."

They all stood there for a moment, trying to find something I've missed in my plan. They couldn't find anything.

"Ok. It's a better plan than we could have hoped for. We'll go there tonight, so no passers-by ask questions about what we're doing." Rias said. Everybody nodded and disbanded.

Before I could leave, Rias grabbed my arm. "Hey, thanks for that, Furo." She said sweetly. "I don't think any of us could have thought of something as fool proof as that."

"Don't worry about it Rias. You gave me a place to stay, it's the least I could do."

"Oh yeah, I was meaning to ask you about that. How come you needed us to take you in? When we first met you, you were in a moving van, so I figured that you would have your ow place."

A shadow cast over my face at that. "Because me and Sarah were going to move in with each other. I didn't want to stay there because it brought back too many memories, you know?"

Her face showed a mixture of shock and guilt. "I'm sorry Furo, I should have figured that out by myself." She said, still holding onto my arm.

I put on a bitter smile and said, "It's ok, I'll have to get over it at some point." I gently grabbed her wrist and removed it from my arm. "Can't dwell on the past, can you? I'll never let my enemies see it when they get to me. It's my own personal creed. They'll use it against me the second it suits them."

"Furo… You don't need to see the world like that. Not everyone is your enemy. It's been 600 years. Your enemies are either dead or have forgotten about you."

"Did your father!?" I snapped, gaining everyone's attention again. "Because he had neither died nor forgotten about me! All I wanted was a peaceful life. Everyone that gets in the way of that is my enemy. Don't try acting like you understand me Rias. It's easier on both you and me." I didn't realise it, but tears were starting to sting in the corners of my eyes.

"Furo…" Akeno said soothingly, as she placed her hand on my back, trying to calm me down.

I simply walked away. I knew that I was being unfair on Rias, and that by acting like this, I'm letting people see that it gets to me. 'Wow, well done asshole. Hypocrite much?' I thought to myself.

I flew to the top of a tall building in the city centre, and yelled from the top, letting out all of the anger and sorrow that had been building up ever since Sarah died. 'I can't keep doing this. I'm going to burst if I keep bottling up my feelings.' I just sat down, and let myself cry.

Once I thought that the tears had finally stopped, I stood to take off back to the school to apologise to Rias. I didn't want to start an operation with bad blood between us.

From the corner of my eye, I saw an orange-gold streak across my vision. I quickly assessed it and found traces of powerful magic coming from the thing that looked to be a bird.

I used my speed to catch the bird mid-air and crashed onto another rooftop. Looking at the bird, I could tell that it was being used to spy on me. Meaning that whoever this bird belonged to could see me, but I couldn't see them.

"I don't have time for bullshit stalkers." I said in annoyance. I then proceeded to summon one of my guns, and blow its head off. I sighed and set off again back to the clubroom.

When I got there, everyone was waiting, probably for me to return. Rias gave me a sad look and said, "Alright, now that everybody's here, we can continue with the operation." Everyone left the room by the door to my left, Rias being the last.

"Rias," I said quietly, but loud enough for her to hear me. "I wanted to apologise. A lot has been taken from me lately and I took it out on the only person who tried to help. I just wanted to let you know that it won't happen again."

Her eyes looked misty, and she gave me a hug. Not saying anything more, we left to continue with the plan.

Once we got there, the street the abandoned museum was on looked bleak at best. "Okay, split." I said. We then all left in our designated groups. When me and Asia found a building that would make a great lookout, I grabbed her waist (which earned me a yelp from Asia at the unexpected contact) and flew us both up to the roof.

Once we were both on the roof, Asia asked, "How did you do that?"

I looked at her, confused. "Do what? Fly?"

"Yes." She responded.

"Hasn't Rias taught you how to fly yet?"

"Well yes, she has. But not without my devil wings like you did."

"Oh, that. That's another type of magic completely. No need to worry."

"Oh, ok. But why not just use your devil wings? Wouldn't it be easier?"

"No. I haven't got any." I said darkly.

"Huh? Why?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes please." She said with eager.

"I tore them off in hopes of it turning me back to being a human."

She made a strangled yelp, like it wasn't the answer she was expecting. "B-but wouldn't that hurt?"

"Like hell. But I was desperate at the time."

We stayed in silence for a long time after that. We witnessed the lightning bolt that Akeno had summoned, and kept an eye out for any more enemies showing up.

"Furo?" Asia spoke up.

"Yes?" I answered, still keeping lookout.

"Can I ask you something?"

"What's on your mind?"

"Well when we first met you, Rias said something that I meant to ask ab-"

"Shhh!" I said. "There is a group of strays coming up the street. Probably coming back from a supply run." I grabbed her waist again and flew her down. "Run into the museum. Rias and the others should just be finishing up." She nodded in response and ran towards the entrance.

I slowly made my way to the devils coming up the street. They hadn't noticed me due to either stupidity or ignorance. I changed that by quickly summoning my guns and shot one of them in the head. The good news; it got their attention. The bad news; they looked really pissed off. It's a good thing that it wouldn't make it any more difficult.

I switched to my duel-wielding katana short swords and patiently let them come at me.

With my eyes closed, I kept myself in check so I wouldn't go overboard and go into a psychotic rage. Hearing the first enemy running at me, I sidestepped at the last second and slashed upwards. The rest of the devils faltered as they watched their friends head roll around on the floor.

I then opened my eyes and charged while they were still in shock. Mid-run, I through my sword at one of the enemies and it pierced his chest and the point of the blade came out of the other side in a bloody mess. With only one sword left, I made quick work of them. I then went to collect the sword I'd thrown and cleaned the blade with my black sleeve. I turned around to find Akeno running out of the building.

"Furo! Issei and Koneko found something while sneaking around the enemy."

"What is it?"

"It's for the best if you see it yourself." Is that fear in her voice? I need to see what's going on.

We sprinted back to the museum. Once we entered, I saw Kiba and Koneko shifting bodies to the side. I followed Akeno to the thing she wanted to show me, and found Issei, Asia and Rias crowded around a table. I shoved Issei out of the way and took a look at the thing on the table.

… I felt my heart drop when I saw it. Intel. Nothing that could help us, but multiple pictures of me and Sarah before all of this happened. The time we went to the fair together, the time we went to get ice cream on our first date, hell there was even a picture of us packing Sarah things!

I could feel myself getting angry, it was a conspiracy, just like I thought. I knew there was no chance that 10 centaur class stray devils all happened to be in the same place at once!

I clenched my fists only to find cold metal in my palm, I look down to find that I've summoned my pistols, I could also feel my swords on my back, but they were already there. I calmed myself down by taking deep breaths and both my swords and my guns vanished into thin air.

"Do you remember what that stray devil said when we first met?" I asked them in a quiet tone. They stayed quiet. "If you're afraid of 1 devil, then what the hell are you doing here for in the first place? That's what they said."

"They were organised." Issei said quietly, only just realising.

"Someone's out to get me. And they killed Sarah in the crossfire. That means I'm going to slaughter them." I could feel the insanity creeping into my voice. "YOU HEAR ME?!" Yelling at the ceiling, to no one in particular. "I'M GOING TO FIND OUT WHO YOU ARE, AND WHEN I FIND YOU… I'M GOING TO TAKE EVERYTHING YOU HOLD DEAR TO YOU! THEN, AND ONLY THEN, AM I GOING TO KILL YOU! I'll make you suffer." I said that last part under my breath, and stormed out of the building.

"I hope he doesn't do anything rash." Issei says.


	4. Fitting crimes means fitting punishments

**Highschool DxD Fanfiction/ Chapter 4**

 **('…') = Character's thoughts**

 **("BOLD TEXT") = Draig speaking/ authors notes**

 **("…") = Character speaking (duh)**

 **Akeno's POV.**

We didn't see Furo again after he left the museum, so instead of searching, we went home to think about everything that had happened that night. The plan went off without a hitch. I'd say that we were lucky that it did, but I'd be lying. It was due to Furo's expert planning that we managed to complete the mission without anyone getting hurt.

It's been a week since we last saw him, we asked everyone we know that's in power to keep an ear out for any news of him, including Rias' big brother Lucifer, Michael and Azazel. That was a week ago, and even the leaders of the three great factions couldn't find him. Rias was getting worried, for both his own safety and the safety of those he could be hurting.

Suddenly, Rias' desk lit up and showed a hologram of Sirzechs. "Rias!" He yelled over the noise in the background. What was that noise anyway?

"Brother! What's happening? What's with all the noise?" An explosion sounded to the left of Sirzechs. He looked away from the hologram.

"I don't care what it takes, do NOT let him get through those doors!" He yelled at his sub-ordinates. "Rias, you need to get down here right now." He said, looking back at the hologram.

"Why? Brother, tell me what's going on!"

"He's here Rias. Half an hour ago, we got a mysterious letter telling us to raise our defences, and then he attacked. We don't know what Furorem wants, but he sure seems eager to get it." We heard another explosion, this time a lot louder than before, followed by maniacal laughter. "He got through the doors Rias, we need you here to calm him down." Hearing multiple gunshots, and more laughter, the hologram shut off.

We stood there in a daze at what just happened.

"WHAT?!" Rias screamed. "Why would he do this? He has more control than that!" You could almost see her brain working overtime, trying to find reasons for Furo's actions.

Suddenly, Kiba gasped and widened his eyes in realisation. "Before we left on the mission, I told him that the contracts we receive to hunt stray devils came from Grafia. Do you think that that's the reason he's in the underworld? To find the contracts so he can find out who is plotting against him?" He asked.

Rias widened her eyes, "She'll never give him the contracts. He'll kill her! We need to leave now!" And with that, we all proceeded to teleport ourselves to the underworld.

Once there, we took one look at the Gremory estate and despaired. Bullet holes could be seen in the wall, along with random streaks of blood form those who tried fighting back. The door was blown to splinters and dead bodies littered the floor.

"Oh my god." Koneko said. We were all horrified by the scene.

"We can't dwell on it, we need to find my brother and Grafia." Rias said, forging on into the house with a determined look.

The inside wasn't any better than the outside. I wasn't usually squeamish around blood, but this changed my view about those who were. I tried my best not to look at the depressing scene, but there was just so much of it.

We heard fighting coming from down the hall and all rushed to it. We opened the door to see Sirzechs flying across the room, crashing into the wall and landing next to a wounded Grafia, who looked beaten up and had a gash on her arm. Sirzechs was now unconscious. Grafia gave Furo a stare that was so full of hate, it would have scared anyone except the person she was trying it on at the moment.

"Wow Grafia," Furo chuckled, "You aren't looking so stoic now are you?" More laughing.

"What do you want?" She asked in a weak voice.

"Oh, you know what I want." He said, kneeling down at her with both pistols in his hands. "I want the contracts Grafia!" He pointed the gun at her head.

Grafia then pushed her forehead against the barrel of the gun. "I'll never give them to you! I'd sooner die than co-operate with you!"

Furo just smiled, "Well, any other day I would have arranged that, but I still see a window of opportunity. See, I still need you," He pointed his gun away from Grafia and at Sirzechs instead. "But I don't need him." Seeing fear in her eyes for the first time, both Furo and myself knew that he had found a bargaining chip.

"No!" Rias yelled. Furo still didn't look at us, instead, he just looked up at the ceiling, rolled his eyes and sighed. When he looked back at Sirzechs, he gently punched his shoulder, like they were old friends.

"Wow, you sure hired a lot of guards just to keep little old me out didn't you." He said with a chuckle at the end. 'Huh? He thinks we're guards?' Then, as fast as lightning, he stood and spun around with his left hand gun pointed at us.

As quick as it took him to aim at us, he was just as fast to put his gun down, realising who we were. He blinked a couple of times and took in his surroundings. We all took up battle stances.

"You guys." He said sounding confused. Then the part we weren't expecting. "Where are we? I remember the museum, and then blacking out after I left."

Grafia just sat in the same place, looking just as confused as we were. Furo noticed her, and rushed over, sliding on his knees at the end of the run so that he could be kneeling over her. However, she flinched back from him, thinking that he was attacking again. Furo didn't notice this and scanned her for any wounds. Zeroing in on the cut on her arm, he looked back at us and said, "Asia, I need your help here."

She was too scared to move. Who could blame her though? We were all scared.

"Asia! She needs help. Come on, snap out of it." He said. Asia finally ran over and assessed the damage.

When she tried to heal Grafia, the magic was getting repelled by something. "It's not working." She said helplessly.

Suddenly, Furo got an idea. "Asia, give me your rings."

"What?!" She shrieked at the thought.

"My magic is stronger than yours, I'll be able to help her." He explained. Asia didn't say anything, she just held her rings close to her chest. "Asia please, the blade went through multiple tendons, she's seriously hurt!"

"Ahh! Alright then!" She reluctantly handed her rings over to Furo, who put them on his fingers. Definitely not his style. When he activated their healing abilities, it let out a bright red aura instead of Asia's usual green.

Just like he said, Grafia's wound had started closing up pretty quickly. Something happened afterwards though. The green gems on Asia's rings flashed red for a second and then returned to green.

Grafia, looking as good as new, stood up timidly. Checking her arm, she found nothing that suggests any harm had been done to her. She gave Furo a cautious look, like she didn't know whether or not to thank him.

Furo looked around at us. "Judging from all of the looks you're giving me, I'm guessing that I had something to do with this?" He gestured towards Grafia and Sirzechs, who was still unconscious.

Rias just gave a small nod.

"*sigh then I suppose we should wait for your brother to wake up."

 **Kiba's POV.**

We were in the middle of the devil's own version of the supreme court. The peerage was sitting in the witness stand and everyone else was simply observing. Furo was shackled to the floor in some heavily enchanted handcuffs. He was sat in the middle of the entire court, which had a 'U' shaped seating arrangement so that everyone could see him. With the judge sat at the head of the room. When I had a second look at the judge, I wasn't surprised to see Zeoticus Gremory sat in the judge's chair. With him being both Sirzechs' and Rias' father, it's not surprising that he wanted to oversee how this went.

"How dare you." Zeoticus started, "I gave you a chance to redeem yourself for your passed crimes, and instead of following through with our deal, you spit in my face and attack both my family and my home." Zeoticus said, outraged.

Furo stayed silent with his head down. Even though we saw first-hand what he did to Rias' brother, I still don't believe that he'd do something like this. And then there was the moment where he didn't know where he was, and the part where he helped Grafia out. None of this made any sense. Me and Koneko looked at each other worriedly as we waited for the list of offences Furo had made.

"Mister Furorem. Before we read the list, do you have anything to say that might plead your case?" Furo continued to stay silent. "I'll take that as a no. Furorem Marius, you are hereby charged with murder on multiple accounts, resisting arrest…" Zeoticus then continued to list crimes that Furo had committed in the past. To be honest, I felt bad for the guy, he had tried to turn his life around, and after all of the hardships he went through to achieve that, he still gets stereotyped for his past self.

"Now that we are all acquainted with your crimes, we will decide a fitting punishment. Obviously, if we try killing you, you would resist and many people will die, so that option is out of the window. And I can't see you doing community service, so-" Zeoticus paused like he had, had a thought. "Hmm… I think I've come up with an idea, at least to work off some of your crimes. But I'll have to talk to you in private about it." Furo still wasn't moving, was he asleep or something? "Furorem? Do you agree to this?" Zeoticus sceptically asked.

"Yes, I accept these terms." He said in a dark manner.

"Very well. Court is adjourned." And with that, everyone got up to leave.

"I hope they go easy on him." I said.

"I don't, I hope they give him the worst possible punishment." Rias said sourly.

It might be my imagination, but it looked like Furo tilted his head at Rias' words, like he had heard.

 **Furo's POV.**

After everyone left, I was escorted to the private study of Zeoticus. The guards weren't nice about it either, they kept on pulling on my chains and occasionally tripping me. I guess they wasn't happy with the fact that I probably killed many of their friends. There's a depressing thought, I don't remember anything that happened during the attack. All I can remember was leaving the museum and then waking up in a destroyed Gremory estate with two of the strongest devils on the ground along my friends giving me the most fearful look I'd ever seen.

Once we arrived at Zeoticus' private study, the guards threw me on the floor.

"Oops." One of them said before they both walked out.

I looked up to see Zeoticus sitting in a chair with a glass of scotch in his hand. Sirzechs was here as well, although he didn't look as relaxed as his father, he just gave me a hard stare like I was going to attack him at any given moment.

"Ah, Furo. I trust my guards were treating you nicely." Zeoticus said smugly.

"Very funny." I say with a grunt, trying to get into a sitting position, which proved more difficult than you'd think with handcuffs on.

Zeoticus gave me a smirk, then proceeded to put his drink down and get up.

"Down to business then. Your punishment. I feel you will think of this being more than fair, your punishment will be training my daughters peerage."

…

…

…

…

…

…

"… What?!" Me and Sirzechs said in unison.

"That's right. I need- no, WE need you to train Rias' peerage."

"Why?" I asked.

"Yes father. Why?" Sirzechs said slow and sharply, a clear sign of him telling his father to reconsider.

"Look, Rias and the rest have been really kind to me, but if I lose control again, then I might seriously hurt them. I don't want that." I said.

"You won't." Zeoticus said, "Like you said, they are your friends, and I believe that, that is what snapped you out of your attack on my home."

"Father, we don't even know if he attacked us on purpose or not yet! I mean, it's pretty difficult to destroy an entire estate by accident!" Sirzechs cut in.

"That's true, but to put it simply, I believe that Furo did it unwillingly. You heard about how quickly he stopped attacking when he saw his friends. And how willing he was to help Grafia heal from her wounds."

"Wounds that he inflicted!" Sirzechs snapped. "I don't even see the point in training them anyway!" He then widened his eyes in realization, and then calmed his tone down. "Look, none of us want that for Rias, but surely there is another way to get around it than conspiring with those who attack us and hurt our loved ones."

Zeoticus gave a serious expression, and turned to me, "Furo, what is the last thing you remember?"

I had a think about it, "Leaving the museum, why?"

"Try harder, I think you can remember something in between then and now."

I tried harder, so hard it started giving me a headache, but eventually, I remembered something.

"A letter… I'm not sure who to or what it was about, but I remember writing a letter." This answer just asked more questions for me, rather than give me any answers.

Sirzechs looked at me in shock, "He sent- you sent the letter?!" He yelled.

"I don't get it, what letter?" I ask.

Zeoticus looked at me while Sirzechs tried figuring out what it means. "Before you attacked, my son here received a strange letter from an anonymous sender, telling us to raise our guard and not let you in. If it wasn't for your brief moment of humanity when you wrote that letter, you would've had enough time to kill both Grafia and my son. I don't know whether I should thank you or not."

"Don't worry about it…" I said in a small voice. I was shocked, nothing like this had ever happened to me before, so why was it starting now?

I looked up, noticing that I still didn't know something. "So, what am I training her peerage for anyway?"

Sirzechs looked at me, with a mixture of both confusion and loathsome. Still better than the '100% hate look' he was previously giving me.

"Rias has an arranged marriage." He simply said.

"What? You both arranged a marriage for a member of your family?"

They both looked down in shame. "We don't want it, but to prove that we respect the old traditions, we had to take action."

"… You guys are sick. How much you selling her for? A few bags of rice, a chicken maybe?" I said in a disgusted tone. They both looked even more hurt from the insult.

"We both know that Rias is against it. And we also know that she will go to any extent to not go through with it. We're afraid that she will try to prove her independence through a Rating Game." Zeoticus explained.

"And I'm guessing from how young she is; she's never been involved in a Rating Game before? That's why you want me to train her? Because you know you won't be able to stop her?"

"We don't want to stop her; we know that it is the only way to avoid the marriage."

I exhaled slowly, weighing up my options. "I'd love to help, honestly. But it won't do any good. She hates me for what I've done." I said sulkily.

Zeoticus placed a hand on my shoulder, "Please Furo, if you do this, not only would I erase all of your previous crimes, I'd also consider it to be my side of the bargain complete."

"Bargain, what bargain?" Sirzechs asked.

I looked at Sirzechs, "The last time I was here, it was to bury my girlfriend. While here, your father, Michael, Azazel and I made a deal, where I do any job for them, no matter how difficult it may be. And once I had completed all three jobs, I'd be a free man." I explained to him. "That was the chance to redeem myself your father was talking about in court."

Sirzechs looked at us both for a second, processing the information. "As the current Lucifer, I should have been notarised of this deal. But, I agree with my father, if you do this for us, then that will be our side of the bargain complete. The choice is yours Furorem."

After thinking briefly about it, I couldn't let something like that happen to Rias, no matter how badly she hates me.

"I'll do it." I say. "But don't let it be said that I'm not a man of fair deals. I'm getting way too much from this compared to you. How about I get a clean slate, but I still have to do a job after this?" Zeoticus smiled at me, while Sirzechs looked shocked at my actions.

"Oh Furorem, if only the circumstances were different when we met, we would have been fast friends!" Zeoticus said with a large, toothy grin.

"Hmm… It seems I had you figured wrong there Furorem. I look forward to seeing how well you've trained my sister's peerage." Sirzechs face then turned serious and slightly angry. "But if you ever lay a finger on Grafia again, I will personally hunt you down, and end your life. No matter how many tries it takes me."

"I believe you." I say not flinching an inch.

"Good, then we're in agreement. I suppose we should let you go now." Sirzechs snapped his fingers and the chains broke off of my wrists. I rubbed them sorely and stood up, shook both of their hands and left without saying a word.

"You sure we can trust him?" Sirzechs asked when I'd left, thinking I can't hear him.

"Absolutely, he may be stronger than his own good, but this life wasn't his decision, and he always keeps to his word." Zeoticus answered.

"I thought he killed his family to become a devil."

"That's the s tory people believe, but Furo gave up trying to convince people otherwise a long time ago."

 **Rias' POV.**

"Arrgh!" I yelled in annoyance, "How could he do this to us?! I can't believe I was stupid enough to trust a devil with that bad of a reputation!"

"Rias, calm down, we don't even know what happened yet. It could just be a big misunderstanding." Akeno said.

"A misunderstanding?! How do you call a psychopath destroying your family home and bringing your own brother to the brink of death a 'misunderstanding'?" I shrieked eccentrically.

Nobody dared say anything.

"Whatever, I hope he doesn't come back." I said, gently slamming my head against the desk.

Still, nobody said anything, not wanting to disagree with their king, but secretly doing so anyway. I knew this, of course, but didn't bother mentioning it to anyone, in case an argument started.

Everything was quiet for a few moments, before something smashed through the window. Shooting up from my desk, I saw only two things; golden feathers, and a black hoodie.

Seeing Furo wrestling a giant golden bird on the floor would've been funny if I wasn't so mad at him. Eventually, he placed a hand on the bird's chest and wrapped his other hand's fingers around its neck, pinning it to the floor.

"Wow. You just won't stay dead will you?" He seemed to be talking to the bird. "What? Your master not done perving yet?" Has he finally gone crazy? What was he even doing here?

"Furo! What are you doing here?" I demanded.

"Birdwatching." He simply said, before looking back at the bird, "I know you can see me, whoever you are, and I don't exactly appreciate the fact that you've been spying on me and my friends. So know this, if you send one more bird, I will rip out your eyeballs and shove them so far down your throat that you will never be able to spy again." He then crushed the birds neck in his hands, which then caught fire and eventually disappeared.

Furo stood up, brushing the bits of glass and ash of his trousers. Soon enough, however, I knocked him back onto the floor with a swift slap to the side of the face.

"You escaped?" I said in disbelief.

"Ok, I deserved that," He said while rubbing his cheek, "but what's this about escaping?"

"Shut up! Akeno, keep an eye on him while I call my brother and tell him his prisoner's got away."

 **Issei's POV.**

To be honest, I had mixed feeling for the guy. First, he saves us from powerful strays, then, he points a gun at Rias, next, he helps us defeat a den of stray devils and finally, he almost kills two of the strongest devils I know. How else was I supposed to feel?

Now, he was stood against the wall with his arms crossed, chewing gum, without a care in the world. We all stared at him in amazement. He does he go from smashing through a window, delivering a painful sounding threat and killing a flaming bird to acting like it was just a normal Tuesday for him.

Akeno cleared her throat, "So, Furo. What are you doing here? You didn't actually escape did you?" She asked cautiously.

"No, I'm supposed to be here, by order of both Sirzechs and Zeoticus."

We all looked at him, wondering why they would tell him to do something like that.

"If you're wondering about the reason why I'm here, I'll let Rias tell you." He added before Rias burst into the room.

"You're here to train us?!" She asked sharply.

"Huh? Training, why do we need training?" I asked.

"I don't know. My brother wouldn't tell me." Rias said while flouncing her arms around a lot.

"Wait, he didn't tell you?" Furo said with a confused look. "You know what? Screw it, I'm so sick of secrets. I don't even know who knows what anymore!"

"Do you know why we need training, Furo?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah, Rias' family was scared that she might challenge her future husband to get out of an arranged marriage."

"Challenge? Challenge how?" Koneko asked.

"To a Rating Game."

We all looked at Rias.

"Why didn't you tell me Rias?" I asked, feeling slightly betrayed.

"I didn't want you worrying about it." She said with her arms crossed, giving Furo a glare. "But yeah, the thought of a Rating Game crossed my mind a couple of times, it was going to be a last resort in case my family didn't back out for my sake."

"Your brother and your own father arranged a marriage for you?!" I yelled, getting annoyed.

"Trust me Issei, I already gave them shit for it, so don't be getting angry about it." Furo said.

"I'm not angry!"

"I think you're forgetting who I am Issei. I can literally see the rage coming off of you." He said. Then, the weirdest thing happened, I felt freezing cold for a second, and then really calm.

"Whoa, what just happened?"

"I absorbed your anger. We couldn't have you making a scene to the Gremory family because of how you feel, now could we?" Furo said, still leaning on the wall.

"Um… thanks. Just don't do it again, it is really cold when you do that."

He laughed softly. "Ok then Issei." I quickly took notes. His laugh when in a normal state of mind was gentle and warm, but when he was unstable, it was like he was the jailbird of an insane asylum, cold and psychotic.

"So, what'll it be Miss Gremory? You want my help or not?" He asked.

Rias looked like she was contemplating the choice for a moment. She looked really cute like this in my opinion, the way she placed her left hand on her delicate chin, and how her right hand would curl around her waist and hold onto her left hip.

"… Ok. But I swear, if you-"

"Yeah, yeah. You'll hunt me down and kill me no matter how many tries it takes." He looked over at Rias, who stood there in shock of how he finished her sentence.

"It's amazing how much like your brother you are." Furo said with a smile. "Ok everyone, training will start tomorrow, it's a good thing we have a holiday now, it means non-stop training."

"That's rad!" Koneko seemed to be the only one excited about the upcoming training.

Furo gave her a strange look. "Rad? Nobody says 'rad', Koneko." Koneko then returned his strange look, "Please, never say that again." Furo added. Koneko just shrugged it off and walked away. 'There must be some secret reason for not wanting her to say that, even if he is right.'

We all left to go to our respective homes before Asia spoke up. "Wait! Mister Furorem?"

"Asia, you don't have to say mister, and please, call me Furo." He said.

"Um… ok, but I wanted to ask you something that I didn't get a chance to ask you on the night we were on the rooftop." She mumbled, looking at the floor.

He smiled again, and said, "Oh yeah, we got interrupted by those reinforcements. What did you want to ask?"

"Well, when Rias first told us about you, she said something that scared me a bit. Did you kill your family just so you could become a devil?" She said with fear in her voice.

We all looked up from what we were doing, and tried our best to listen eagerly. We all wanted to know that as well.

You could tell that the question took Furo by surprise. His smile slowly melted and he stood frozen by her words.

"Yes, I killed them, but it wasn't to become a devil." He said quietly.

Everyone was quiet for a moment. "How could you do something like that?" I said in disgust.

"Was you there?" He asked me in anger. "Do you know the reasons for my actions? No? Then don't judge me until you know the full story!"

For some reason, I didn't back down when he squared up the me, "Then why don't you enlighten us, Furo? I'm tired of this bullshit 'mysterious guy' act."

He gave me a glare so full of hate, I actually sat down in fear. Eventually, he looked away from me to address the entire room.

"I once had a little sister, and as you know, I was the general of my father's army. I was returning from a scouting mission to find that my family home was empty, the guards had been dismissed, and when I called out, nobody answered."

He took a shaky breath and everyone leaned forwards, eager to find out what happened.

"After every mission, I would go and sit and talk with my little sister, Annabel, she was my whole world at the time, we'd do everything together. But when I went up into her chambers, I found her strapped to the bed, alive but unconscious, and my mother and father looking down at her. There was strange marking on the floor, but I eventually recognised them as markings used to summon evil beings. My parents were trying to make a contract with a devil to destroy an enemy garrison that stubbornly refused to be defeated, with my sister being the payment. After my father explained all of this to me, the devil appeared in the room. A woman. I quickly took action and tackled her to the ground, she was stunned. I then drew my sword and cut both of my parents down where they stood. I was trying to release my sister but failed by the time the devil got back up. With me being human, she easily killed me when I attacked.

We all looked at him, surprised that he had lived through such horrors.

Furo exhaled slowly and continued. "The next thing that I remember is waking up in the same place I died. Both my sister and the devil was gone, but before I got the chance to wake up, she left me this." He then pulled an ancient looking note out of his pack pocket and handed it to the nearest person, which was Akeno. Everyone except Furo crowded around Akeno and read the note over her shoulder.

It read,  
" _You shouldn't have done that, sweetie. Now you've pissed me off, and while I would just love to let you get eaten by the rats while you slowly rot, I've thought of a better punishment. One that will last a lifetime- no, scratch that, one that will last all of eternity._

 _You interrupted a contract for me, and I cannot let that go unpunished. So, I've turned you into the same thing as me, and taken the sister you tried to protect so desperately, so you can spend your immortal life knowing that you never did save her in the end._

 _Love from,  
M  
xxxxx_

I have to admit. The kisses at the end seemed a little unnecessary.

We all looked at Furo with sympathetic eyes.

"That first century I spent killing things, was actually me searching for my sister. I believed that all devils were as bad as ' _M_ ' was, and I slaughtered any I came across without a second glance. I was never sure about why I turned out to be an elemental devil, but I gave up trying to find out a short while after. Once a century had gone by, I knew my sister must have been dead, and stopped the search for her. After that, I just wanted a quiet life, but it seems it's just something I could never have. I even thought that if I tore my wings off, I would turn back to being human. The worst part about it is that I can't even control my powers anymore." He said with slight annoyance in his voice. He looked down, taking a new interest in his trainers.

Nobody knew what to say to him. No amounts of 'I'm sorry for your loss' could make him feel better after everything he's been through.

Furo just stood up and headed for the stairs after taking his letter back from Akeno. Before he disappeared from sight, he looked back and said, "4am tomorrow. That's when training starts, I suggest you turn in early so you get enough sleep before then." Before heading up to his room.

We all looked at each other for a moment.

"Wow. That guy had it rough." I said.

"We all have. Especially these three," Rias gestured at Akeno, Kiba and Koneko. "but we should do as he says and head to bed now." And with that, everyone left the old building and went home.

 **A/N: Hello fellow Highschool DxD fans. I don't usually write authors notes, but I was wondering if there were any ideas for pairings with Furo, if you think there should be any. If there are any, then please give me them to me in the review box below.**

 **Also, I can guarantee only one person will understand the whole, Koneko saying 'rad' thing, so… yeah.**

 **I've finished all of my final exams as well, which means I'll have 3 months of non-stop writing now that I have no revision to do, so hopefully I'll be able to update more often.**

 **-SpectralWendigo**


	5. Tough Training

**Highschool DxD Fanfiction/ Chapter 5**

 **('…') = Character's thoughts**

 **("BOLD TEXT") = Draig speaking/ authors notes**

 **("…") = Character speaking (duh)**

 _ **("Italic")**_ **= Voices inside characters' head.**

 **Issei's POV.**

"COME ON! MOVE YOUR ASSES!" Rias, Asia and I shot up from my bed at the speed of a bullet.

"What the hell?!" I said in confusion. I looked around the room to find Furo leaning against the wall in the corner, with his arms folded and his face showing that of annoyance.

"Furo? What are you doing here?" I said groggily, still waking up.

He tapped his wrist, suggesting I checked the time, which I did. It was 4:15. Wait… that meant we were late for training!

Another thing I noticed is that Furo didn't seem fazed by the fact that both Rias and Asia were naked. While Rias didn't seem to care either, Asia was quietly trying to cover herself back under the blanket.

"Oh no… we're late for training aren't we?" Rias said while rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. "Furo, could we have 10 more minutes? If you need sleep as well, just jump right into bed with us." I know it sounded seductive, but that was Rias' normal sleepy talk, even if she didn't realise it.

He looked annoyed, "Thanks, but no. I specifically told you all to sleep, didn't I? And now I find out that you're going to be tired all day because you've been fooling around when you should've been sleeping." He snipped every word.

"Fooling around?" I then looked at how it must have looked, and my eyes widened. "No, no, no! It's nothing like that! We just share the same bed, that's all!"

"Ah huh, well you'd better get ready. Everyone else is at the old building already."

"Everyone? Come on, not everybody could have been there on time." I said.

He raised an eyebrow at me and said, "No, you're right Issei. They were early, Kiba and Koneko were both eager to begin training, and Akeno kept mumbling something about missing her opportunity for 'rough time' because Kiba and Koneko were there. I dread to think about what that last one meant."

"… Ok, let me get dressed then." Furo then decided that the best way out of the house would be to jump out of the window, after he opened it thankfully.

"Hey! We have a door you know!" But he was already long gone. I looked back over to Rias and Asia, who had both gone back to sleep. "Come on girls," I shook both of their shoulders at the same time, but they refused to budge.

*15 minutes later

After finally managing to wake both Asia and Rias from their deep sleep, we had about 5 minutes to get ready and teleport to the school grounds.

When we got there, we found Akeno, Kiba and Koneko in their PE uniform, just like us.

"Ah, now that everyone is here, we can get to the main training." We all got into a line, and Furo paced back and forth with only one of his katanas drawn, it was really distracting since he kept spinning and twirling it in his hand as he spoke.

"You will be facing off against me, so I can get a good feel for your abilities and decide what area you need to improve in." He explained, "For obvious reasons, I will be using my powers at a very low level so that you don't get hurt." He stopped pacing in front of us and looked at me with an evil smile, "Much."

Oh goody. We get to spar with someone that could potentially break every bone in our bodies with a hard stare.

Rias snorted, "Well, good look you guys. Me and Asia will be studying." Both she and Asia then proceeded to turn and walk away.

"Where do you think you're going? When I said that I'll be training the entirety of your peerage, I was talking about you two as well." Furo interrupted their walking.

"What?! But I'm the king, I need to study tactics and such. And Asia's not a fighter, she's a healer!"

Furo looked at her like she was a disobedient child, that was throwing a tantrum.

"I don't care. If I'm going to effectively train you, then I need to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, meaning, that everyone needs to fight to their fullest." We all looked nervous about it. Asia had never really used offensive magic before, how was she going to fight?

"Ok, I'll try at least." Asia said with uncertainty, which surprised us all.

"Ok, well now that that is settled, who's first?" We all looked at each other and came to a silent agreement. We'd let Asia go last.

"I'll go first." Kiba said with confidence.

*At the running field.

Both Kiba and Furo took up stances. Furo was only using one of his swords, which I'm guessing was to make it fair for Kiba. Suddenly they both disappeared and all we could see were random sparks and the clanging of metal. It happened like that for a while, until they both reappeared, only, Kiba was flying across the floor, disarmed.

We looked at Furo, who was now holding two swords, his own, and Kiba's. He walked over to Kiba, but before Furo got there, Kiba punched the ground and yelled, "SWORD BIRTH!" It came as a surprise to me and Asia when we saw giant swords come out of the ground, but nobody else seemed to be bothered by it.

Furo narrowly dodged it, looking slightly less surprised than we were. When he landed, he inspected the swords that had come out of the ground with slight curiosity, allowing Kiba to catch his breath for a second.

"It's been a while since I met someone with Sword Birth, Kiba. Do you know what they say about this specific Longinus?" Furo asked.

Kiba was slowly getting up, panting at the same time. "No, I'm afraid I don't."

"They say that the Longinus 'Sword Birth' only chooses those that are worthy enough to wield it. Is that true? Are you worthy of such a power?" Furo pushed.

"I try to be… Yes." Kiba said, finally getting up, using his new sword as a crutch.

"Then prove it to me." Furo threw Kiba's old sword away and slowly advanced towards Kiba, who readied his new sword and charged at him.

It didn't take long for Kiba to get knocked back down, but he sure did put up a fight before he did. Kiba now lays on his back, with Furo's sword at his neck.

"I… Concede." Kiba said, though it sounds like he had trouble saying it. Furo offered him a hand up, which Kiba gratefully took. Once they were both stood up, Kiba dusted himself off.

"Well, you weren't lying, Kiba. You are definitely worthy of wielding Sword Birth." This made Kiba smile.

"I still wasn't able to defeat you though." He said with sadness in his voice, looking at the ground.

Furo chuckled, "Look, don't worry so much, you had me on the ropes for a second there. Your speed and Sword Birth's power make a deadly combination." Furo reassured.

Kiba gave Furo a grateful look and then came to join us and cool down.

"Who's next?" Furo asked. 'Was he not even tired after that fight? Was he really ready to fight again?'

Akeno squealed with joy and said, "Ooo, ooo, pick me!" She said childishly while jumping up and down.

"Um… alright then. Akeno, you're up!" Furo said, looking confused as to why she was so excited.

Akeno happily skipped over to where Furo was standing. And said, "Don't go easy on me." with a wink.

When the battle started, rapid fire lightning rained down on Furo, who jump and dodged them, mid-air. The lightning also created a smokescreen, where Furo was staying hidden.

"Wow. You sure are nimble, aren't you dear? But why would you want to escape it?" She said in her masochistic voice.

"Jesus Christ! You're a lot stronger than I gave you credit for!" Furo said, seemingly surprised by the sudden attack.

Akeno then summoned her wings and took to the air as well. But when she finally found him among all of the dust, he disappeared again and reappeared behind her. He balled both of his hands into fists, raised them above his head and slammed them into her back, sending her flying to the ground, creating a crater and a slight shockwave that knocked me off of my feet when she landed.

"Oh… WOW!" Akeno beamed as she got up, dusting herself off. She looked badly beaten, but acted like nothing was wrong with her. "Are you sure you don't get down in the dirty in your spare time? You seem way too good at it to say you don't." She giggled.

"Congratulations. There aren't many that could stand up after a hit like that. Even if your motivation is a little… strange." Furo clapped from where he was flying. "Now let's see how you do against multiple targets."

Furo disappeared again and reappeared to Akeno's left, folding his arms across his chest and giving her a blank expression. Then, another Furo appeared to her right in the exact same stance and facial expression. What really confused us, was the fact that another fifteen appeared, completely surrounding Akeno.

"What the-? Is he cloning himself?" I asked.

"No." Kiba answered, looking better, but not fully recovered from his earlier fight. "It's his speed. He's going so fast that it's creating the illusion that there are multiple of him, obviously, the copies can't hurt her, but they offer a good distraction. I can do it, but I can only make two copies, and it's difficult to make any more than that. He must be going incredibly fast to be achieving this." He said that last part with respect in his voice.

Suddenly, Akeno stumbled due to Furo punching her in the shoulder. We only caught a glimpse of him before he struck her, and then disappeared again afterwards.

Things continued like that for a while, getting her on the chest to wind her, hitting her ankles to unbalance her and punching the inside of her kneecaps to make her fall to one knee.

Eventually, Akeno fell on her face and slowly, the Furo copies disappeared and left the real Furo looking down at Akeno. Before he was able to offer her a hand, she laughed.

"I'm pretty sure I can't marry now, not after everything you've put me through." She joked in pleasure.

She then got back up without the help of Furo, and took up a battle stance again, earning a strange look from her opponent, who then dusted his hands in surrender and said, "Ok, this is too weird for me, I give up." Akeno just calmly walked back to the spectating area with a smile on her face.

"Koneko, you're up next." As she was walking to the fighting spot, Furo noticed that she had no weapons. "No weapons, huh? Ok then." He then made his sword disappear and took up a hand-to-hand fighting position.

"You didn't have to do that." Koneko said as they started circling each other.

"Fair fighting." Furo shrugged. "What do you say? Freestyle fighting or a specific kind like kickboxing?"

"Freestyle." Koneko confirmed.

Koneko went straight on the offensive, sending powerful blows to Furo's face, neck, shoulder and chest. Basically anything that would hurt the most. All of her attacks were either blocked, dodged or re-directed with ease.

"I have to say, you're a lot stronger than most Rooks. Why is that?" Furo asked, like nothing was going on.

"A lot of difficult training." She answered.

"No, it's more than that. There is something making you this strong. Don't worry, I'll find out." After saying that, Koneko finally landed a punch straight to his jaw. After feeling his jawline and moving it around a bit to check if it was broken, he smiled at Koneko, "Ah, now I know."

Koneko briefly looked panicked and attempted a roundhouse kick to the side of his head, which he ducked under and then proceeded to sweep her other leg from under her, resulting in her landing on her back.

Furo looked down at her and quietly said, "Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret." He then gave her a hand up and waited for the next challenger. Since Asia was going to go last, me and Rias glanced at each other, knowing it was going to be one of us next.

"You know what? You both look eager to fight," we looked terrified after seeing how easily he took down everyone else, "so I'll let you team up to take me on."

A team up? He doesn't know about Draig yet, which would have caught him by surprise if it was one-on-one. But the Princess of Destruction and the Red Dragon Emperor teamed up, while Furo was in his weakened form as well? We might stand a chance.

I looked at Rias again and I could tell that we were thinking the same thing. Teaming up was the best chance they had. He would have wrecked us individually.

""Alright."" Both me and Rias said at the same time.

On our way over to Furo, who was re-summoning his sword, we quickly discussed battle plans.

"I want you to keep boosting while I distract him. Once I've been worn down or defeated, you should have boosted enough times to take down whatever energy he has left." Rias whispered.

"I don't think I'm comfortable with you being a distraction. What if we dodge all of his attacks while I'm boosting, and then I'll transfer it all to you, hopefully, you'll be strong enough to beat him in his weakened state." I offered.

"But that will leave you wide open." She realised. "We'll go with my plan."

"*Sigh. Fine, but promise to stay behind me when you get tired." I said.

She doesn't say anything for the remainder of the way there.

"You ready?" Furo asks.

I took a shaky breath and said, "Yeah, we're ready."

We waited for him to attack so we could have a chance to counter him off-guard, but he foiled our plan by just standing there, without a care in the world as I boosted, which was painfully obvious considering my gauntlet yelled out whenever I had an increase in power. Eventually, Rias got impatient and sent a barrage of dark energy bolts at him. 12 bolts to be exact. He sidestepped each of them in turn with graceful speed and went back to standing there, not saying a word.

"Ok, what the hell?" Rias said, tired of the silence.

"Hmm?" Furo hummed, looking up from whatever it was he was doing.

"Why are you not attacking? Isn't the whole point of this exercise to find our strength and weaknesses?"

"Well, yes, it is. But I've already found your strengths and weaknesses." He simply put.

"What are you talking about? The fight's only just started." I said.

"I overheard your plans to beat me on the way here, and the whole 'I'll attack first to wear him down' thing won't make you win. You're both strong individually, but you don't trust each other enough to work in a team. Neither of you are willing to take the chance that the other one might get hurt." He explained.

"Well of course I wouldn't want Issei to get hurt in battle. That's why I'm willing to be a distraction." Rias argued.

"Yeah, same here." I agreed.

"This is exactly what I mean. You're so scared of each other getting hurt, that you're willing to potentially lose the match to keep the other one safe. And you should know more than anyone, that this is a rating game you can't afford to lose, Rias." Furo said.

Me and Rias looked at each other nervously. Was he right?

"If you want to win this match, then you're going to have to make sacrifices. After all, which is worse, a couple cuts and bruises, or an eternity of being married to a man you don't love." Furo finally summed up.

Without saying anything, me and Rias agreed it was for the best if we worked as a team. I quickly made my way to the other side of our opponent, in perfect flanking position. I'd already boosted a good 6 times during the talking, which was good enough for close combat. After a moment of tense silence, both Rias and I attacked.

Rias sent rapid shots of powerful magic at Furo, as I was quickly making my way to him. As soon as I got there, we engaged in battle, since his sword was being used to cut through Rias' magic, he only had 1 hand to fight me off, which wasn't enough. After a while of nothing but blocking, I got under his defence and sent a punch to his gut with my gauntlet arm.

We heard an 'Oof!' And stopped the attacks as Furo got to one knee to recover from the hit.

Once he got up, he had a smile on his face. "The Red Dragon Emperor. It's been a while since I last saw a dragon. How did you manage to keep this bad boy from me Issei?" Not bothering to wait for an answer, he sucker punched me to the face, leaving me stumbling back in both shock and pain.

"If you'd told me this beforehand, I wouldn't have gone so easy on you." He said, still smiling. He then summoned his other sword, signifying the fact that he was going to use much more power than he had for everyone else.

Before he got to me, Rias sent a large number of magic bolts his way, probably about 100 or 200. Not bothering to dodge, he just cut through them all with blinding speed and master swordsmanship. I was now on my feet again, as he was closing in on Rias, who looked tired from all the magic she was using.

When he got to her, he swung both of his swords in one hand like a baseball bat, hitting her neck with the flat side of the blade, stunning her and leaving her on the floor.

Once I had recovered, I got ready for the inevitable beating I was about to receive. 'Might as well fight back instead of just let it happen'. And with that thought I got back up and boosted again, bringing me to my 10th power up.

Furo ran at me with lightning speed, but I could still barely see him coming, so I moved slightly to the right and raised my clenched hand in hopes that his momentum would land him straight onto my armoured fist. Unfortunately, no such luck. I was stupid to think that Furo's reflexes would be so bad as to fall for a move like that.

He ran further to the right of me, and instead of running straight past, he hooked his arm around my own and used the momentum to snap my arm backwards from the elbow, seriously damaging it.

"Aarrrgh!" I screamed in pain.

"""""Issei!""""" Everyone, including Rias, who was now moving again, rushed to my aid.

"What the hell Furo?" Koneko demanded with a punch to the shoulder, just to make him take a step back.

Furo looked pissed at that, and shoved her out of the way, "Calm down, he'll be fine in a couple of minutes. I honestly thought you had better reflexes than that Issei. Looks like you haven't had the same amount of training as the other one did." He said cryptically as he put his right hand on the inside of my elbow and his left hand on my wrist, he then snapped my arm back into place.

"I'm sorry Issei, the last time I fought a dragon, it was quite tough, so I might have overestimated your current strength a little." Furo apologised. "Asia, Akeno. I need you both to concentrate your healing magic on Issei's elbow. He should be ok in a minute."

He was right. I was fine by the time they were finished.

"Don't do that again." I pleaded.

Furo just smirked and said, "Yeah sure, I really am sorry Issei."

"How could you do that?!" The person who I was expecting to say that was Rias, but it turned out that Furo's actions annoyed Asia instead.

"Asia?" Furo asked. "Don't worry, he's fine."

"No! Why would you want to hurt him in the first place?" She asked with tears of anger in her eyes.

Everyone was looking at Asia with a concerned look now.

"Asia…" I said softly.

She took a shaky breath and said, "Our fight. I want to have that now."

We all looked shocked at her, but nobody more so than Furo.

"Asia… do you know what you're asking?" Furo asked.

"Yes. You need to learn that you can't just go around hurting people for the sake of it."

Furo just exhaled slowly and walked over to the fighting area, drew one of his swords and got ready.

Before Asia could leave to fight him, I caught her hand. "Please, don't do this. He has the ability to really hurt you." I told her. She just smiled at me sweetly and walked over to where Furo was stood.

"This is your last chance to back out Asia. You ready?"

"Yes, I'm ready."

The fight began with Furo running at her. Suddenly, Asia looked panicked and held her hands up in protection. Furo's sword stopped millimetres from Asia's raised hands.

"Please, just give up." He whispered to her.

She got mad again at this and punched him in the chest. The punch didn't look anything special, it looked like one that anyone without proper training would perform, but when she made contact, a red flash appeared and blew Furo to the other side of the field.

Everyone stayed silent in shock for a moment. Asia just looked at her hands, not knowing what she had done.

As Furo got back up, he felt his chest where she had hit him, and then he gasped in recognition.

"Asia, what did you just do?" I asked.

"I… I don't know. That's never happened before." She said in a panicked tone. She then noticed her rings, which were still green, but had a tinge of red as well, like there was a red coloured lightbulb shining on it.

"What's happening?!" She said in an even more panicked tone.

"Asia, calm down, it's ok!" Furo yelled, now running to her.

"Do you know what's going on?" She asked in a scared tone.

Furo took a deep breath and said, "It's best if we talk about it inside, but yeah, I think I do."

*Back at the club room.

"Ok Furo, you said you might know what's wrong with Asia?" Rias asked.

"Yeah. When Asia punched me, I recognised the power that she was using at the time." He said slowly.

"Which was?" Rias pushed.

"My own." He said finally.

His own power? How is that even possible?

"Does that make Asia an Elemental Devil too?" I asked.

"No. But she can use a small portion of my powers." Furo explained.

Everyone looked confused, and stayed quiet for a moment.

"Well… Are you going to explain how this happened?" Rias asked.

"When I healed Grafia with Asia's Sacred Gear, there is a good chance that I left behind some of my power in the rings. Not enough for me to notice that it's missing, but enough for the wielder to do some serious damage."

"I saw that!" Akeno spoke up. "When you finished healing Grafia, I saw the rings flash for a second. I just thought it was my imagination."

Furo nodded. "The stored power must have been activated when you experienced extreme emotions. For example, when you were getting angry with me for braking Issei's arm."

Asia just stared at her hands in disbelief.

"I could try and remove it if you'd like." Furo offered.

"No. If I can adapt to it, then I'll be more of a help on the team." We all smiled at Asia, thankful for her bravery.

"Ok then. I suppose we should talk about training schedules then. Kiba, you need to master Sword Birth and train your stamina, you got tired pretty quickly during our fight. Akeno I want you to-"

"I know. You want me to stop being such a masochist." She said with a sad look.

"Not at all. I want you to use that in battle. It increased your battle persistence to the point where even I gave up. No, I want you to practice your senses. You may be strong, but that means nothing if the opponent's able to get the drop on you."

"Sure. By the way, what do I get for winning the match anyway?" She said while smirking.

Furo smiled and said, "Don't push it, I could still have you running laps the entire time we train." Akeno stayed quiet from then on.

"Koneko, we'll be doing training in private." Koneko just nodded slightly, like she knew what he was talking about.

"Issei. You need to work on your timing and your speed. Since you're the Red Dragon Emperor, strength isn't a problem, but evasion is."

"Sure." I replied.

"Rias, you need to learn that people are going to get hurt under your watch, but that they don't mind it if it's for your sake." Rias then looked around the room and everyone gave reassuring nods to her.

"Thanks guys." She said quietly.

"Good. But you were right when you said that you need to study battle tactics and your opponent's weaknesses, so I'll be helping you with that in your spare time." Furo continued.

"Ok then." Rias said.

"Asia, if you're determined to learn elemental magic, then I'll teach you, but it's going to be a lot of work." He warned. Asia looked at him and gave a brave nod as her answer.

"It's only 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon," I point out. "What are we going to do for the rest of the day?"

"This will be your last day of freedom. After today, it will be non-stop training, Sundays will be the only days off you get, and even then I expect you to be doing something productive." Kiba and Koneko were the only ones that looked exited to hear that, the rest of us just groaned. "I'll keep you posted about training schedules." And as he was about to leave the room, he turned back to look at us all with a sarcastic smile, "Dismissed, troops." He said before leaving.

*A short while later.

We all ended going to our separate places. Asia and Akeno went to the kitchen to start making lunch, Rias went to the study to make sure she had all of the books she needed for the upcoming training, Kiba and Koneko went to go watch TV, and Furo went to places unknown. Which left me and Draig alone.

" **Seems like a nice guy."** Draig suddenly said.

"Seriously? The guy's a complete mental case." I laughed in response.

" **Ha! He'd have to be to think you had good reflexes in a fight."**

"Hey! I couldn't exactly do anything about it!" I yell defensively.

" **We need to talk to him."** Draig said in a quiet, serious tone, completely forgetting about the argument they were having.

"About what?"

" **Did you not hear what he said? 'Looks like you haven't had the same amount of training as the other one did.' He was talking about another dragon."** I understood what he was so disturbed by now. Draig had told me about another dragon he had fought before, and how they still didn't get along.

"You're right, we need to go find him." And with that, I took off down the corridor to find Furo.

 **Furo's POV.**

I still couldn't wrap my head around it. Strange things had been happening to me recently, and I couldn't make sense of it. First there was the fact that I accidently left some of my elemental magic inside Asia's rings, then there was the fact that I had shown the letter I keep in my pocket to the Occult Research Club (something I had never shown anyone before), and apparently I have a stray devil hit squad out to get me.

Some would call it bad luck, some would call it divine punishment, and some would just call it a coincidence. I was currently sat on the edge of my bed, thinking about the situation I was in. A pretty fucked up one to say the least.

*Knock, Knock

"Yeah, come in!" I called out. The person on the other side of the door poked their head through to make sure I was here. 'Ah, Issei. I was expecting him to show up soon enough.'

"Hey, I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Issei asked.

"No, no, come in." Issei came in and shut the door behind him. I also noticed that he had his red gauntlet on, which meant the dragon could hear us talk.

"What's up?" I start.

"Well, we need to know about this 'other' dragon you talked about back at training."

"Ah yes, I was wondering when you'd show up about that."

"How do you even know another dragon Furo? And which one was it?" He asked.

"Well, it was around last year when in met him. He claimed that he'd been looking for me for a long time, and that I was a difficult person to track down." Issei looked like he was letting that sink in.

"And what did he want with you?"

I laughed and said, "Would you believe? It was just for a fight. He talked about having this crazy list of the strongest people he would go up against in his lifetime."

"And did you win?"

"Of course I did. Although I will admit, it was pretty difficult even at full power."

Issei looked confused, "So… why did he want to fight you in the first place?"

I shrugged, "Glory? Money? Revenge? Lots of people have tried to kill me in the past, for lots of different reasons. However, there wasn't anything about this guy that suggested any resentment towards me. Maybe he just wanted to get stronger? Either way, I can't complain, the guy never gave my location to the three factions."

"And what dragon was it?" He asked me.

"Well, I won't give you the person's name out of respect, but I will tell you that it was the dragon Albion." I looked at Issei after that comment. He turned pale, nodded at me and began walking away.

"Oh, and Issei," I stopped him before he left, "I should warn you, I was number 3 on his list. The Red Dragon Emperor was number 2. So when he shows up, he's going to expect one hell of a fight." I advised. He looked into space after hearing that, and then proceeded to exit my room.


End file.
